All posts by Jack Green

If you’re ready to start investing in real estate, it’s time to learn how to be a good landlord. With the right attitude, you can attract high-paying tenants and keep them around for years. The wrong moves will send renters fleeing for the hills, meaning you’ll lose money to vacancies. Here are five ways you can keep tenants happy.

Allow Pets

Most Americans own a pet or two, yet many landlords don’t allow pets. This is a double loss for you. One, you’ll be keeping potentially great tenants from renting with you. Two, you’ll miss out on pet rent. In major cities, you can charge as much as $50 a month per pet. Tenants will gladly pay the extra costs to keep Fido or Fluffy with them.

Follow the Lease

Make sure you understand what your lease says. How many hours of notice do you need to give tenants before entering the property? What amenities or upkeep are you responsible for? Understand your commitments and follow them.

Do a Move-Out Inspection

Tenants often complain about not receiving their entire security deposit back. They claim that landlords are trying to steal money over minor issues. Sometimes, these complaints even end up in court. If you want to be a great landlord, meet your tenants on their final day in the unit. Walk through the property with them and explain any areas that you think are damaged. This way, your tenant won’t be surprised.

Screen Out Bad Tenants

If you have multi-family units, it’s vital to get good tenants in your property. One bad tenant in a four-plex might drive your other three renters away. Before renting, perform background checks and credit checks. Ask for references. It might seem harsh, but you’re protecting your business — and your existing tenants.

Make Repairs

Don’t be a slumlord. If a tenant reports a problem to you, get it fixed. That’s your responsibility as a landlord. This also benefits you in the long run. Tenants are more likely to stay with you for the long-term if you’re quick to resolve problems. You also prevent big property damage by fixing small problems. A leaky pipe or runny toilet can flood an entire house.

Being a good landlord isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s also good business. Follow these tips and you’ll see your rental income grow.

Being an owner of real estate and planning to go into renting business will face you will a lot of specific requirements you’ll have to resolve, including the legislative ones. There are some law and administrative obligations imposed on all landlords in Spokane, Washington and you should study them thoroughly before renting your property for the first time.

Aside these formal aspects, interaction with your tenants brings more specific issues to deal with. But this article will analyze only the legislative obligations.

Deposit stays intact

Many landlords require a deposit from their new tenants, but the law determines your rights and duties with this money. Be aware that deposit money has to be kept in a separate account. And must not be used except under legally determined conditions. This money stays tenant’s, and you have to give it back when the tenant moves out. Only if the tenant leaves unpaid rents, bills or damages within your property, you are allowed to keep that money.

Duties regarding repairs

Namely, a tenant rents your property in a certain condition, leaning on a paid qualities and settings. You are required to provide various repairs if they happen to be needed and the law determines timeframes for each of them you shouldn’t expand. Unless the tenant is personally responsible for the glitch and broken stuff, then you may leave the responsibility to him.

Notarized leased periods

Namely, Spokane real estate laws impose the rule that rental agreements are allowed to be up to a yearlong. If you have an agreement that includes a period longer than 12 months. You will have to provide notary for it.

Avoid hidden costs

Real estate market in Spokane is quite competitive. And you have to maintain a certain good reputation to stay in business. One of the major aspects you have to accomplish is to be fair to tenants and keep your business just and transparent. Aside from showing basic respect to your tenants and tolerance for various requirements, be open and honest about traits of your property and clear about costs.

Avoid unpleasant surprises with additional costs, underlying damages and issues attached to the property hidden in the moment of renting and many similar things. For example, if the mold tends to be an issue occasionally, it’s better to say it right away. Then to leave tenants to discover it after they’ve moved in.

The global real estate market at the end of the previous year has left us a somewhat characteristic constellation of things. Namely, due to some fluctuations and trends regarding real estate prices, homeowners are less likely to decide to put their current residents out there for sale. This is mostly due to fear of not being able to buy a new house after selling the current one.

This lead to a shortage of property for sale available to those who want to become homeowners, which is a whole new generation stepping onto the market over the last few years and will progress to do so during the new 2018. Year. This imposed some specific approaches to everyone interacting at the real estate market and suggested that new year will bring some predictable trends at the global real estate market. Spokane, Washington real estate market follows global trends proportionally.

Prices pushed up by inventory shortage

Probably the worst position in the real estate market will be assigned to first-time home buyers without current property they can sell to invest that money further into new real estate.

This usually includes a profile of young couples looking for their first home. The prices are pushed up by an overall shortage of inventory, and without loans, these people are the least competitive in the market.

Suburbs as a cheaper solution

The above-mentioned class of first-time buyers will mostly flock to suburb zone. Due to prices being too high for them in downtown among brand new buildings and a shortage of inventory at the same time, these people will opt for cheaper residences located near their urban jobs, but not in the mere downtown. Suburbs are predestined for millennials.

Home prices will grow, homeowners will remodel

Fluctuations of property prices at the global real estate market caused declining in inventory and deficit of property for sale. This will inevitably lead to the growth of home prices, but probably at somewhat slow pace. However, due to very inconvenient conditions for selling, homeowners will rather opt for reconstruction and remodeling than for selling.

Once homeowners invest into the remodeling of their residences, they’ll be even less likely to sell. And it will worsen the trend of inventory shortage and change the strategy for builders and investors.

Adjusted strategy of builders

Increased rate of building annually will eventually resolve the inventory crisis. But so far most builders were investing into lucrative area of high-priced real estates. However, 2018. The year will adjust this strategy a bit because there’s. An obvious need at the market for affordable homes for first-time buyers. Builders will probably respond to this growing demand. Thus focus on the building overall will be relocated onto these forms of real estates.

Real estate transactions are always risky, and probably among the most important decisions, you’ll make during your lifetime. Particularly if you are selling the home, you’ve been living in for quite a long time. It has high emotional value for which makes a decision particularly tough and you certainly want to get significant financial compensation for it.

Also, most people calculate money earned by selling current house to invest it into buying a new residence. Pretty similar calculations go for commercial real estates too. Trends and fluctuations in property prices at the market influence the overall value of your property a big time, but there are ways of increasing this value before selling.

How far to go with the renovation?

Some wise interventions and reconstructions of the worn-out areas in the house will certainly increase the overall selling price of your home. However, you don’t want to invest a third of the total price into renovation just to sell the place. Depending on the budget you have, plan these interventions wisely. Investing in reparation and remodeling of bathroom and kitchen is the best because solid installations and these two essential rooms in every house influence the price the most.

Repainting as the most profitable intervention

Repainting the walls of your home is an excellent trick to increase the value of the property, as well as to inspire potential buyers. Not only it makes the interior look more fresh and vital; it gives the whole indoor space a sense of new and you can always use a little psychology.

Namely, paint the walls into some charming neutral color to give potential buyers feeling of an empty canvas and inspire them to imagine their design. It attracts them more that making your own design statement all over the walls.

Adjust your property for presentation

Once you organize public presentation of your house to potential buyers, apply several tricks to make it look more attractive. Make sure to keep it clean and tidy inside and outside as well. Wash all the dishes, remove kids’ toys and books, wash windows. Trim greenery surrounding the house and move outside equipment into the garage. Use lighting you have to prepare premises for staging giving them attractive essence and atmosphere. Remember that most buyers will try to imagine their lives inside your house. Thus making the interior the most neutral you can.